Perceptual distance in
Norwegian retroflexion
Sverre Stausland Johnsen
Phon circle, MIT
Nov 2 2009
Norwegian retroflexes
• In Urban East Norwegian (UEN), a laminal
coronal series /t d n s/ contrasts with a
retroflex series /T D N S/
• /kɑt/ ‘cat’ - /kɑT/ ‘map’
• /ɾɔːd/ ‘advice’ - /ɭɔːD/ ‘lord’
• /tʉːn/ ‘yard’ - /tʉːN/ ‘gymnastics’
• /mɑːs/ ‘nagging’ - /mɑːS/ ‘Mars’
Norwegian retroflexion
• Retroflexes can also be derived across morpheme
boundaries
• When a morpheme ends in /-ɾ/, and the
following morpheme begins with /t d n s/, the
sequence surfaces as /T D N S/
• /ʋɔːɾ-tæjn/ > /ʋɔː-Tæjn/ ‘spring sign’
• /ʋɔːɾ-dɑːg/ > /ʋɔː-Dɑːg/ ‘spring day’
• /ʋɔːɾ-nɑt/ > /ʋɔː-Nɑt/ ‘spring night’
• /ʋɔːɾ-suːɽ/ > /ʋɔː-Suːɽ/ ‘spring sun’
Rate of retroflexion
• Two experiments tested how often
retroflexion is applied
• The results revealed the following hierarchy:
d/n > sk > st > s
(> = ‘undergoes retroflexion significantly more often than’)
• This means that /d/ is more likely to alternate
with /D/ than /s/ is to alternate with /S/
Perceptual distance
• Steriade (2001, 2009) proposes that the
greater the perceptual distance between two
forms x and y, the less likely x and y are to
alternate
• Could imply that /s/ alternates less with /S/
than /d/ with /D/ because the perceptual
distance in /s/-/S/ is greater than in /d/-/D/
• If so …
Perceptual distance hierarchy
• Then the perceptual distance hierarchy should
be the inverse of the retroflexion hierarchy
• Retroflexion hierarchy:
d/n > sk > st > s
• Hypothesized perceptual distance hierarchy:
s > st > sk > d/n (& t)
= The perceptual distance /s/-/S/ is greater than the perceptual
distance /st/-/ST/, etc.
Perceptual experiment
• 12 UEN subjects in an AX discrimination task
• Stimuli were two groups of /ɑCɑ/ words:
1) C = /s st sk t d n/
2) C = /S ST SK T D N/
• Amplitude of the vowels was RMS equalized
• Trial overlaid with babble noise (S/N ca. –7 dB)
•
/ɑsɑ/ - /ɑSɑ/
• 192 trials x 12 subjects = 2304 trials
*
*
*
*
• Perceptual hierarchy from the experiment:
s > sC > t/d/n
• sC = st > sk ?
• In the experiment /st/ and /sk/ were treated
the same
• Could be the result of the relatively clear
distinction between the sibilants in /st/ - /ST/
and /sk/ - /SK/
• In the experiment, the /s-S/ distinction trumps
any other distinctions, so /st/ and /sk/ come
out the same
• If so, /st/ and /sk/ should be the same when
only the sibilant is presented
• Subjects were presented with only /ɑs/ and
/ɑS/, excised from the original /ɑstɑ/-/ɑskɑ/
sets
p = .98
• If /st/ is different from /sk/, then the
difference lies in the following consonant
• Test whether the remaining /t-T/ is more
distinct than /k-K/
• If /c/ can be distinguished from /C/, it means
that they have different phonetic qualities
correlating with the quality of the preceding
sibilant (/s/-/S/)
• Speakers should be able to identify the
preceding sibilant from the quality of the stop
• The perceptual distance /c/-/C/ was therefore
measured by how successfully subjects
identified the preceding sibilant as /s/ or /S/
• Presented as an identification task
• No added noise
•
/Tɑ/
/tɑ/
• 96 trials x 12 subjects = 1152 trials
*
*
• The hypothesized perceptual distance
hierarchy is confirmed
The question
How can perceptual distance influence
phonological production?
• Speakers have a detail rich representation of
words and categories (Goldinger 1998)
• This representation is continuously updated
• When perceiving a token, various factors
might
a) Make correct lexical access difficult
b) Prevent correct lexical access altogether
• Perceptual distance is such a factor
or
Marslen-Wilson et al. 1996
• Result:
• x-y pairs where a non-word y differed from a
word x only in the initial segment. The greater
the perceptual distance between x and y, the
less y activated word x
• Implication:
• The greater the perceptual distance in x-y, the
greater the chance that y is not identified as x
(with a different pronunciation)
• Whenever UEN [Suːɽ] is accessed as a token of
the word /suːɽ/, it is recognized as /suːɽ/ with
a different pronunciation
• But with the large perceptual distance
between /suːɽ/ and /Suːɽ/, tokens like [Suːɽ]
will on occasion not be recognized as the word
/suːɽ/
• For [Nɑt]-/nɑt/, where the perceptual distance
is very small, this happens much less often
• Words in /s-/ will be updated with [S]-tokens
less often than words in /n-/ are updated with
[N]-tokens
• Over time, this can accumulate to significant
differences (Wedel 2006)
• Phonological productions are directly
influenced by speakers’ own detailed
representations (Goldinger 1998,
Pierrehumbert 2002)
• If these representations contain fewer [S]tokens relative to /s/ than [N] to /n/, then
speakers will replicate that distribution in
production
• In short, people say what they hear …
Summary
• The rate of retroflexion of a coronal /c/ is
inversely correlated with the perceptual
distance between /c/ and the retroflex /C/
• The greater the distance /c/-/C/, the more
often a retroflexed [C]-token will not be
identified with the /c/-word
• As a direct result, speakers replicate this
pattern in their own production
References
• Goldinger, S. 1998. Echoes of echoes? An episodic theory of lexical access.
• Marslen-Wilson, W., H. Moss & S. van Halen. 1996. Perceptual distance
and competition in lexical access.
• Pierrehumbert, J. 2002. Word-specific phonetics.
• Steriade, D. 2001. Directional asymmetries in place assimilation.
• Steriade, D. 2009. The phonology of perceptibility effects.
• Wedel, A. 2006. Exemplar models, evolution, and language change.